1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a shoe, more particularly to a shoe having a three-dimensional insole which provides an upper with a welt configuration.
2. Description of the Related Art
FIGS. 1 and 2 show a shoe which is configured to have an appearance of a welted shoe (i.e. the so-called San Crispino construction) as disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 6,018,891. The shoe includes an upper 1 with a bottom open end 101, a molded foot cup 2 having a flanged part 201, and an outsole 3. The bottom open end 101 of the upper is folded about and encloses the flanged part 201 of the foot cup 2 and is sewn to the flanged part 201, thus forming a welt configuration. The outsole 3 is secured to the foot cup 2 and has a top peripheral end which is in abutment with the bottom open end 101 of the upper below the welt configuration.
In the aforesaid shoe, although the bottom open end 101 of the upper 1 is formed with a welt configuration by simply folding the upper 1 to enclose the flanged part 201 of the foot cup 2, the shoe suffers from the following drawbacks:
1. A special mold is needed to fabricate the foot cup 2, thus increasing the production cost.
2. Since the foot cup 2 is injection molded through a special mold, the material used for the foot cup 2 is limited to a thermoplastic rubber or an injection moldable plastic material. The foot cup cannot be made from other materials. In addition, because the foot cup 2 is molded, it can be made only from a single plastic material and cannot be produced from a combination of different materials.
3. As the foot cup 2 is injection molded through a special mold, the shape thereof is limited to the design of the mold so that the shape of the flanged part 201 cannot be varied to form a curve shape or a wavy curve that rises and falls alternately. In other words, the welt configuration formed at the bottom side of the upper 1 can extend only along a line lying in the same horizontal plane. It is impossible to modify the welt configuration to match different shoe designs.